


Loop

by loveiscosmicsin



Series: Hymn of Stars and Blood (Secret Santa Gifts & IgNoct Drabbles) [2]
Category: FF15, FFXV - Fandom, Final Fantasy 15, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: IgNoct, IgNoctSecretSanta, M/M, Secret Santa, ffxvsecretsanta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-19 03:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13115328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveiscosmicsin/pseuds/loveiscosmicsin
Summary: Countless times Ignis held Noctis’ lifeless body, only for the universe to strip away the memories, forcing him to relive the events from the beginning to the end, rinse and repeat. A predestined tragedy like this would’ve destroyed a lesser man or at least, turned him to an unfeeling husk. Letting go would be easier than the crushing grief, but he refused to relent. To him, saving Noctis at any cost was never a choice to begin with.Not when Ignis encountered something different in this timeline and it shook his entire universe.- 50-550 words max. in mind, written for FFXV Secret Santa





	Loop

Time travel wasn’t just a work of fiction. Ignis could testify on the account that he lived through it.  
  
The canine that Ignis knew as Umbra was an avatar, but his purpose, one not to merely observe and record, more transparent. Once a faithful servant to the Frostbearer and the late Oracle, the messenger appeared before the strategist acting on the final order from a blurred timeline. Noctis, the singularity before his demise, bequeathed Umbra to Ignis’ care. Umbra sought the new master out and offered his aid, revealing a humanoid form with vacant eyes that carried the weight of centuries behind them.  
  
Ignis was grateful. Aside from himself, Umbra was the only one aware of the phenomenon, but gaining an unlikely ally did little to make a difference so far. Trapped in an endless cycle of despair, there was an unseen benefit that in one of these loops had to be a timeline where Noctis lived. It had to be if time kept repeating itself. The series of loops and the fragmented memories with them were too strikingly astonishing to be coincidences.  
  
Countless times Ignis held Noctis’ lifeless body, only for the universe to strip away the memories, forcing him to relive the events from the beginning to the end, rinse and repeat. A predestined tragedy like this would’ve destroyed a lesser man or at least, turned him to an unfeeling husk. Letting go would be easier than the crushing grief, but he refused to relent. To him, saving Noctis at any cost was never a choice to begin with.  
  
Not when Ignis encountered something different in this timeline and it shook his entire universe.  
  
“I love you.”  
  
“What? What did you say?”  
  
Noctis had buried his chin in his palm, his eyes narrowed, accusing and at the same time, regretful, but did nothing to steer attention away from his bashful demeanor. “Forget it. It’s nothing.”  
  
“No,” Ignis swallowed to keep his voice from breaking, steady. “That’s not nothing. Let me hear it again, please.”  
  
“All right,” Noctis smiled, but it was an uneasy one. “I…” Fear was evident on his features and he turned his gaze to his feet, he said it so easily and seemingly appeared peeved with having to repeat himself until he looked at the strategist with surging confidence. “I love you. More than… a friend kind of way.” He paused, frowning. “Come on… Say something.”  
  
Ignis caught the prince off-guard and embraced him fiercely. “I feel the same way.”  
  
“Geez… That’s not the same, but I’ll take it.”  
  
The forbidden magic was a miasma about the strategist as his retinas burned and everything dripped to pitch black, a veil he couldn’t lift.  
  
But Noctis was safe. That much Ignis knew as he and the many versions of himself accomplished.  
  
Ignis crawled out to the unconscious king and held him close, the Ring of the Lucii imprinted death on his finger as he fought to engrave Noctis’ visage. Terror gripped his heart no less than it did in previous timelines.  
  
The events leading up to this moment remained unchanged, Altissia was lost to the maelstrom of chaos wrought by the Sea Goddess and Magitek, that was the city's fate. But Noctis' confession reaffirmed Ignis' unwavering declaration to defy all those and the stars themselves who seek his end.


End file.
